Either chick embryo dermis or retinoid-treated mouse dermis can initiate glandular morphogenesis from mammalian epidermal tissue

Excess retinoids can cause developing mouse vibrissa follicles to be transformed into mucous glands in organ culture. The objective was to test the hypothesis that retinoids act in this system by altering morphogenetic properties of the dermis. After inititation by retinoic acid (RA) in organ culture, glands were shown to develop further in embryonic skin grafted to the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). Recombinants of 12.5 day mouse epidermis with untreated or RA-treated mouse or chick dermis were then grafted to CAM for 7 days. For homospecific recombinants, 13.5 day mouse dermis originated from 11.5 day skin cultured for 2 days, with or without 5.2 microgram/ml RA. For heterospecific recombinants, 12 day dermis came from chick embryos, previously injected with 250 microgram RA. Glands were absent from the homospecific recombinants including untreated mouse dermis, but appeared in 26% of those with RA-treated dermis. Among heterospecific recombinants, 75% of those with RA-treated chick dermis and 29% of those with untreated dermis had glands. Untreated 10-12 day chick skin contained two forms of endogenous vitamin A, retinol (4.5 microgram/g protein) and dehydroretinol (3.7 microgram/g protein), while 13-14 day mouse skin contained only retinol (1.8 microgram/g protein), as shown by high performance liquid chromatography. RA injection increased retinol and dehydroretinol in chick skin, while RA was undetectable. Thus RA can act through mouse dermis to form epithelial glands and through chick dermis to increase the incidence of glands. The glands in recombinants with untreated chick dermis may result from the higher levels of endogenous retinoids in chick skin, compared with mouse skin.